Speaker 1: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: It beats listening to nothing. My goodness, it's.
Speaker 3: Being Frank.
Speaker 2: Fright were the only way to be is Frank. Hello everyone,
Speaker 2: and welcome to being Frank. We're the only way to
Speaker 2: be is Frank. I'm your host, FRANKL. Born On, and
Speaker 2: i'd like to thank you for joining us on what
Speaker 2: we like to call the Intelligent Conversation Podcast, where no
Speaker 2: conversations out of bounds and all points of view are welcome.
Speaker 2: Regular listeners to the podcast know our routine is to
Speaker 2: record live to tape and I give you the dates
Speaker 2: so you have some context and relevance. And it's the
Speaker 2: third of December. The height of the holiday season is
Speaker 2: upon us entertaining and being entertained by family and friends
Speaker 2: is what makes the season so special. But what if
Speaker 2: you had a disability and made that joy nearly impossible? Well,
Speaker 2: let's have some intelligent conversation on the side object with
Speaker 2: the CEO and Executive director of Bridges, an organization dedicated
Speaker 2: through advocacy and leadership to the premise that everyone deserves
Speaker 2: to live an independent life. Carlos Montinez LMSW is the
Speaker 2: chief executive officer and executive director of Bridges, a local
Speaker 2: nonprofit organization in Rockland County, New York, guided by its
Speaker 2: mission of advocacy and leadership towards the creation and development
Speaker 2: of a universally designed community for all people, including people
Speaker 2: with disabilities. He has been with the organization since twenty
Speaker 2: ten and became CEO in twenty eighteen. Bridges and Minister's
Speaker 2: programs in the community that serve various members of that community,
Speaker 2: including veterans with PTSD, TBI and other disabilities, people with
Speaker 2: chronic medical conditions, multiple disabilities, mental health disabilities, and individuals
Speaker 2: diverted and or are re entering the community from the
Speaker 2: criminal justice system. Welcome Carlos Martinez. I know you're a
Speaker 2: busy man and took time out to be with us
Speaker 2: and we appreciate it. Thank you for joining us here
Speaker 2: and being Frank.
Speaker 4: I'm excited to be here. Thanks, Rank Carlos.
Speaker 2: Is my custom. You know, we kind of get the
Speaker 2: nuts and bolts in a CV, a curriculum, VTA, a
Speaker 2: little bio, but let's get a little bit behind them. Man,
Speaker 2: tell us a little bit about a typical day for you.
Speaker 2: What is it exactly that you do?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Absolutely, you know, as I'm fortunate and in a
Speaker 4: really amazing position to you know, sort of steward an
Speaker 4: organization that has for many years founded by people with
Speaker 4: disabilities to ensure that the community has the right resources
Speaker 4: through the folks that work here Bridges to experience independence
Speaker 4: for themselves whatever that might be.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 5: If you you find a barrier you know, finding a job,
Speaker 5: or you know, because of a disability, or you find
Speaker 5: a barrier finding a place to live because of a disability,
Speaker 5: this is what Bridges is here.
Speaker 4: For, you know, to help remove those barriers that unfortunately
Speaker 4: are placed by societal what we're societal norms or societal attitudes,
Speaker 4: or or physical barriers that prevent people from accessing public
Speaker 4: places for example. That's what we're here for. We're here.
Speaker 4: We're here to help remove barriers so that people with
Speaker 4: disabilities have equitable access to care, to services, to opportunities
Speaker 4: that many of us take for granted in the community.
Speaker 2: So I think that's an important part. What are some
Speaker 2: of the methods you know, it sounds wonderful, but it
Speaker 2: takes work. What are some of the methods that you
Speaker 2: have to apply to get these things done and make
Speaker 2: some reality again on a daily basis. I mean I'm
Speaker 2: sure on the broad lobbying, funding, et cetera. But on
Speaker 2: a daily basis, what is it that you do that
Speaker 2: literally helps accomplish these things?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean it from time to time. It can
Speaker 4: be at the very individual level. I mean it's helping
Speaker 4: someone build their confidence and understand that they two have
Speaker 4: a voice, that they can use it to advocate on
Speaker 4: their own behalf. Sometimes it's just a matter of speaking
Speaker 4: up depending on the situation. For example, you know a
Speaker 4: person who is employed and seeking nothing special but a
Speaker 4: reasonable accommodation, for example, something that by law is able
Speaker 4: to be granted and support someone career, you know, or
Speaker 4: job circumstance. It's teaching them how to ask the right questions,
Speaker 4: how to bring it up and be confident about those things.
Speaker 4: And sometimes it can be broader. It could be working
Speaker 4: with a group of people who are experiencing similar discrimination
Speaker 4: or similar circumstances. We always go at it in a
Speaker 4: non punitive way. We are first approach to government, to
Speaker 4: public places, and even to business owners and jobs is
Speaker 4: to be nonpunitive. Is to provide education, to provide support
Speaker 4: to that business in whatever fashion or way they need
Speaker 4: it in order to help the two come together in
Speaker 4: a very amicable way. Very few times do we go
Speaker 4: the extent of litigation, which we've done in the past
Speaker 4: for businesses that don't want to comply with the a DA,
Speaker 4: which is a law that affords people with disabilities equitable
Speaker 4: access to opportunities.
Speaker 2: That's the advocacy that you mentioned in your brochures, et cetera. Okay,
Speaker 2: but you know, I think within the name itself, it's
Speaker 2: was formerly the rock Weed Dependent Living Center, which certainly
Speaker 2: is descriptive, but so is Bridges in a sense. And
Speaker 2: the reason I brought it up now it seems to
Speaker 2: be what you're talking about. You're looking for a bridge
Speaker 2: between these people and their needs and the community. Yeah,
Speaker 2: talk a little to that that, you know the name is.
Speaker 2: It is a metaphor, if you will.
Speaker 4: Absolutely you know, you know, we a few years ago
Speaker 4: we changed the name from Rocklin the pend the Living
Speaker 4: Center to Bridges. In fact, we didn't really change it.
Speaker 4: Rocklin Dependent Living Center is still our legal name. The
Speaker 4: DBA is Bridges doing business as is an add on
Speaker 4: you can tie into the legal name of any business,
Speaker 4: and we did that because Bridges was synonymous with the
Speaker 4: work we did. It's sort of bridging the gap or
Speaker 4: connecting people to the right resources, or getting folks from
Speaker 4: a place where they didn't achieve independence to achieve independence.
Speaker 4: And that's where we hope the add on or the
Speaker 4: name change was able to do, is to give people
Speaker 4: the clarity on what Rocketing and the Pendolic Center did,
Speaker 4: because most of the time we were confused with and
Speaker 4: assisted living facility, a nursing home at times, even a
Speaker 4: hospital we got one time, and that's not what we
Speaker 4: do are it's actually against our very charter as a
Speaker 4: nonprofit and it's as a center for independent living to
Speaker 4: provide any housing. Our work is community based. It's to
Speaker 4: help people find the resources the housing that they need
Speaker 4: in the community and or to fight to make it
Speaker 4: available if it's not, so that people with disabilities have
Speaker 4: the opportunity to live with dignity in the community. So
Speaker 4: Bridges was a way to broaden the you know, the
Speaker 4: ideation and the perspective in the community of who we
Speaker 4: are so that people understood what we did. And hopefully
Speaker 4: Bridges does a little bit of that, and if not,
Speaker 4: then Rocket Independent Living Center is just that, it's a
Speaker 4: center that enhances independent living and that's what our purpose is.
Speaker 4: In the community is to help people achieve independence. For
Speaker 4: anyone who walks through our doors.
Speaker 2: Well, so you mentioned doors literally to talk about it
Speaker 2: as a little bit, as a physical place, as a campus.
Speaker 2: It is a thing. It doesn't just exist in people's minds.
Speaker 2: It is a place. Talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you know, we're located here in the palis
Speaker 4: State Center Mall for those who don't know, and it's
Speaker 4: you know, it's our home base. We used to be
Speaker 4: located in New City and Route forty five in New
Speaker 4: Hampstead if people might be aware of that area. But
Speaker 4: you know, we we thought a lot and hard about
Speaker 4: where our next location would be and it you know,
Speaker 4: it may have come to a surprise a lot of
Speaker 4: people when we moved to the Palistate Center Mall, but
Speaker 4: it was one of the best decisions we made as
Speaker 4: an organization for a number of reasons. Number one, the
Speaker 4: mall is central in the county and you can reach
Speaker 4: the mall from any point in the county through public
Speaker 4: transportation if you took the bus, and also the roads
Speaker 4: to get to the mall as well. You know, if
Speaker 4: you're driving, it's it's a pretty easy road down whichever
Speaker 4: whether you're in Harvestrow or Suffern or Niak. And it
Speaker 4: made it that much more accessible for people with disabilities
Speaker 4: who were looking to connect with us and receive our services.
Speaker 4: We thought it was going to be an issue at first,
Speaker 4: because you know, we thought, you know, who wants to
Speaker 4: go to the mall?
Speaker 2: We know the kind of a commercial kind of feel
Speaker 2: to it. It's like, what are we what are we
Speaker 2: selling here?
Speaker 4: Quote unquote right, And then you also have the public
Speaker 4: image of the mall that's not the greatest at the moment,
Speaker 4: you know, with where it's.
Speaker 2: Going rebating and the emptiness and yes.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, but the reality is it's central location.
Speaker 4: It's one of the most accessible locations as long as
Speaker 4: the technology works and uh and and it has been
Speaker 4: a really amazing place for us to meet and garner
Speaker 4: support from our community members and garner support from other
Speaker 4: And it's here in the mall. I mean, we have
Speaker 4: a great relationship with Target, with Macy's and some other
Speaker 4: storefronts near us that have never known about us and
Speaker 4: now wants to support the work that we do.
Speaker 2: And that's been a very you could place, how convenient
Speaker 2: you could place clients for work there?
Speaker 4: If yeah, Wow, and that's exactly what's happened. I mean,
Speaker 4: for employment purposes, we've helped folks achieve employment goals here
Speaker 4: in the mall and in various locations. So yeah, to
Speaker 4: your point, Frank, it has been such a fruitful relationship.
Speaker 4: And the mall management, you know, has been a good
Speaker 4: partner to us, truthfully, and that's been something that has
Speaker 4: been helpful for us as well.
Speaker 2: Carl, you mentioned your wide range of services. Let's talk
Speaker 2: about the people who take advantage of those services. Tell
Speaker 2: us a little bit about your clients and the range
Speaker 2: of clients that you actually see there. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, it's there's a misno more about organizations
Speaker 4: like ours, uh, disability service or organizations. We serve the
Speaker 4: whole gamut of disability, right, so the youngest to the
Speaker 4: oldest disabilities. You don't see disabilities. You see cognitive mental health, uh,
Speaker 4: chronic medical conditions, you name it. Uh. And and the
Speaker 4: other part of it is that it doesn't matter if
Speaker 4: you're rich or poor either. At the end of the day,
Speaker 4: if you have a disability and you have a need
Speaker 4: and you have questions and you need support, we're here
Speaker 4: for you. Uh. And that's the beauty of our organization.
Speaker 4: It was founded by people with disabilities, and to and
Speaker 4: to this day, more than half of our governing board
Speaker 4: are people with disabilities, more than half of our staff
Speaker 4: are people with disabilities. And that's intentional because that was
Speaker 4: my next.
Speaker 2: Question, But both do both? And what are your clients like?
Speaker 2: What are your employees like? But but please continue, I
Speaker 2: want to develop that a little bitco That's exactly right.
Speaker 4: It's intentional because you know there has been you know,
Speaker 4: I'm a licensed social worker, and let even licensed social
Speaker 4: workers know the value of the peer approach. You know,
Speaker 4: there's value in someone who has been there, done that,
Speaker 4: has has understood the challenges that life is brought because
Speaker 4: of a disability, and now it's helping you walk through
Speaker 4: that process. There's nothing better than having a peer that's
Speaker 4: helping you do that. And I've seen it in every
Speaker 4: area of our services, including our vision services, where we
Speaker 4: have folks who are coming in for help, who are
Speaker 4: developing some level of blindness or impairment to their vision
Speaker 4: and they're walking through this process through the help of
Speaker 4: folks who understand and there's nothing more empowering and more
Speaker 4: encouraging when they're meeting with folks and then getting the
Speaker 4: help they need the way that they need it. And
Speaker 4: that's where the peer approach is so valuable. And that's
Speaker 4: what our independent living centers are known for. It's the
Speaker 4: peer approach. And even with the social workers, and there's
Speaker 4: values in the psychiatrists and the social workers, and we
Speaker 4: make those referrals as needed, you know. There the our
Speaker 4: organizations thrive on the peer approach, and every grant and
Speaker 4: program and service that we provide, uh comes with that
Speaker 4: that angle in mind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure at a daily basis, you get and
Speaker 2: see inspirational things, you get inspiration. Is there one in
Speaker 2: particular that that sticks out in your mind that really
Speaker 2: inspires you and kind of captures the message of bridges?
Speaker 2: Can you share that with us? Or or more than one?
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, there's so many.
Speaker 2: I'm sure if there might be one or two whatever,
Speaker 2: that's something that really what just the top.
Speaker 4: Of your head right away, I'll share, I'll shore, I'll
Speaker 4: share a couple. You know, they're the Our organization's mission
Speaker 4: is obviously achieving independence. As I mentioned earlier, is it's
Speaker 4: helping folks achieve independence. The one of the staples of
Speaker 4: what we do as a center for independent living. It
Speaker 4: is is sort of going against the traditional model of
Speaker 4: healthcare that has existed for so long in the nursing
Speaker 4: home arena. You know, I am a person. This is
Speaker 4: just my personal opinion that nursing home is an antiquated
Speaker 4: environment of healthcare and that it needs to be updated substantially.
Speaker 4: I mean, I've worked in a nursing home as a
Speaker 4: social worker, and I don't have anything good to say
Speaker 4: about it. In many ways, it vegetates perfectly capable brains
Speaker 4: to something that of a of a young child, and
Speaker 4: it's disheartening to see when you see that interaction, and
Speaker 4: it's it's.
Speaker 2: Been on the other I've been on just to chair
Speaker 2: with I've been on the other side with the f
Speaker 2: family member. It's they're not generally speaking, they're not pleasant places,
Speaker 2: and they're not conducive to good living. But please continue starts.
Speaker 2: It's got to add that I'm relating totally to what
Speaker 2: you're saying.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. I mean, as humans, we thrive on connection and
Speaker 4: community building, and unfortunately, in nursing home facilities it doesn't
Speaker 4: happen as often as it should, and too often, because
Speaker 4: of underpaid workers and funding, it becomes scarce, you know,
Speaker 4: and that's that's dangerous for the human personality. And so
Speaker 4: independent Living Centers have made it a mission to get
Speaker 4: people out of nursing homes and back into the community
Speaker 4: with the right resources. And so we have one of
Speaker 4: our staff members, her name is Katricia, who works hand
Speaker 4: in hand in working with folks that are in nursing
Speaker 4: homes and getting them out of there and back in
Speaker 4: their own place. And we have a couple of stories
Speaker 4: there that are inspirational where folks have been in the
Speaker 4: nursing home for eighteen months, two years, three years, waiting
Speaker 4: to get out and back into the community. They're there,
Speaker 4: you know there, you know, their somber expressions, their their
Speaker 4: their frustrations and being in the nursing home and not
Speaker 4: wanting to be there for much longer. You know, it
Speaker 4: gets to you and and I and I've seen the
Speaker 4: work that Katricia has done to make sure that they
Speaker 4: feel encouraged to empower them. Hey, we have more a
Speaker 4: couple more steps here to go to get you out.
Speaker 4: We're working with you and the beauty is when we
Speaker 4: finally get them out. We have established an apartment, we
Speaker 4: have furniture that we have purchased for them all included
Speaker 4: a part of this program and grant that we're a
Speaker 4: part of, and and finally seeing their face when they're
Speaker 4: walking into their apartment for the first time, knowing that
Speaker 4: this is their home now in the community that they're in,
Speaker 4: is one of the most precious things that that we
Speaker 4: see every single time. You know, we want one transition
Speaker 4: from a nursing home to the community is an amazing thing,
Speaker 4: and we get to do several throughout the year, which
Speaker 4: is awesome. And then another one I'll share on the
Speaker 4: side of our veterans. We have a Veterans Department services
Speaker 4: that we provide to our veterans with PTSD traumatic brain injuries.
Speaker 4: You know, we had an individual. You know, our veterans
Speaker 4: do walks in the mall, you know, and they scale
Speaker 4: all different levels of the floors of the mall to
Speaker 4: do several miles and do that together as a point
Speaker 4: of camaraderie and point of building connection and getting working
Speaker 4: with each other and avoiding isolation. We had a veteran
Speaker 4: that was stuck in their home. We got reports and
Speaker 4: a referral. He was stuck in his home for for months.
Speaker 4: He wouldn't come out the individual never reached out to us,
Speaker 4: but we got calls from friends and family. When we
Speaker 4: went to go visit the veteran, it was one of
Speaker 4: the most scariest circumstances. So you can imagine the veteran
Speaker 4: was sitting on his couch with a gun right next
Speaker 4: to his couch on a table. You know, we know
Speaker 4: the veterans suicide. I mean, I think the numbers twenty
Speaker 4: two or something of that nature, every every hour, every day.
Speaker 4: It's atrocious, yes, And this program under the Veterans Department
Speaker 4: called the Joseph P. Dwyer, named after a medic veteran
Speaker 4: Army veteran who is known for and his pictures all over.
Speaker 4: He's saving a young boy but comes back home without
Speaker 4: an ability to transition to civilian life and unfortunately dealing
Speaker 4: with his own demons and mental health, and you know,
Speaker 4: overdoses and loses his life at trash.
Speaker 2: To Carlos, my brother in law, my sister's husband, a
Speaker 2: medic in Vietnam, the exact exactly. So I am so
Speaker 2: relating to what So forgive me for interrupt but I
Speaker 2: just had to so emotional for me to hear. These
Speaker 2: are real people, real stories. But please continue on the
Speaker 2: pop citive side here please.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, and Frank, please interrupt whatever, you know, But I.
Speaker 2: Just wanted to share with you that we're out.
Speaker 4: There definitely, you know. And that's something that the Dwire
Speaker 4: program strives to do every single day, is to is
Speaker 4: to eliminate veteran suicide the best way we can. So
Speaker 4: in that circumstance, our team went in and saw this individual,
Speaker 4: was able to have a really good conversation with him
Speaker 4: to get him from that dark place. And it didn't
Speaker 4: take long before now that veteran is not walking with
Speaker 4: the group of veterans every week here at the mall,
Speaker 4: you know. And it was so inspiring to see that
Speaker 4: because who else could have done that, aside from the
Speaker 4: brothers and sisters that served alongside in the military. Knowing
Speaker 4: his circumstances, knowing what he's going through his head, there
Speaker 4: was nothing better than to have folks go in and
Speaker 4: help him get out of that dark place. And that's
Speaker 4: what the Dyre program does every day. I mean, we
Speaker 4: work with justice involved veterans, veterans that are involved at
Speaker 4: the police or involved or you know, incarcerated or you know,
Speaker 4: or have mental health breakdowns. And our team is going
Speaker 4: out there called by a call to help support these
Speaker 4: veterans and let them know they're not alone, that they're
Speaker 4: here to help support them, and to just connect, just
Speaker 4: to talk. You know, even if it's just as simple
Speaker 4: as that, it's all that's needed to help, you know,
Speaker 4: undo a burden and help hopefully bring some healing to
Speaker 4: that veteran.
Speaker 2: He just answered part B of my next question, which
Speaker 2: were the rewards, which are pretty obvious and if you
Speaker 2: can see people can't see us, they can only hear us.
Speaker 2: But the smile that comes to you say, knowing that
Speaker 2: you do have successes. But of course with the success
Speaker 2: there are challenges. It's not easy. It can't be. Obviously
Speaker 2: you're dealing with people who have difficult it's become your difficulties.
Speaker 2: What would you say that personally and professional? What are
Speaker 2: the greatest challenges that you fix? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean I think the challenges you know, and
Speaker 4: and I hate to say this, but it's it always
Speaker 4: boils down to how do we get this job done
Speaker 4: right if if we don't have the funding for it.
Speaker 2: You know, we're going to talk about that after the
Speaker 2: break in detail.
Speaker 4: Please it now, please definitely, you know, and I think
Speaker 4: that's one challenge that impacts us as a nonprofit and
Speaker 4: is not uncommon to every nonprofit out there, you know.
Speaker 4: And I think the other challenge is making sure that
Speaker 4: people know that we're here right every time we hear
Speaker 4: of a veteran losing their life, every time we hear
Speaker 4: that a person with a disability couldn't get out of
Speaker 4: a nursing home and ended up passing away there, every
Speaker 4: time we hear of someone losing their job because they
Speaker 4: weren't afforded the opportunity towards reasonable accommodations. Those are areas
Speaker 4: where we just wish and hope we could be known
Speaker 4: to these people before these circumstances reach that point, uh,
Speaker 4: and where we could be a guiding voice and support.
Speaker 4: That's why, that's why our services is not just for individuals.
Speaker 4: It's for businesses too. Businesses can reach out to us
Speaker 4: and say, hey, you know, I'm hiring folks, some folks
Speaker 4: have disabilities. How do I work with these individuals to
Speaker 4: make sure they're set up for success? And you know,
Speaker 4: and and and it takes a lot to do that
Speaker 4: because as a business owner, we understand you've built something
Speaker 4: that you want to grow. We understand that it's your baby,
Speaker 4: and you know who is ever anybody else to tell
Speaker 4: you what to do right right? But at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, you're hiring humans. We're all humans, and
Speaker 4: we all have needs, and we all have desires, and
Speaker 4: we all have dreams, and you know you can't fulfill those,
Speaker 4: but you can work with us. And working with each
Speaker 4: other just helps you become that much better of a
Speaker 4: of a boss, of a leader, of a business owner
Speaker 4: that cares for its community. And you're not we're not
Speaker 4: talking about giving things away, but but working with folks
Speaker 4: at their level and where they need it is just
Speaker 4: one step and becoming a more accessible and even an
Speaker 4: inclusive employer.
Speaker 2: So a perfect segue, I asked one.
Speaker 4: Uh oh, I love your sweater. I'm I'm a graduate.
Speaker 2: And I can't see I got my fore, I got
Speaker 2: my forum, my forum, sweat, my fordum swag. We knew
Speaker 2: we had a lot in common.
Speaker 4: Before even I got my master's. There it's great.
Speaker 2: I just actually I thought last night my teaching day
Speaker 2: is and Monday evenings at Lincoln awesome, Uh, Carl, I
Speaker 2: I like I like to put my guests on the
Speaker 2: spot before a commercial break with rhetorical question, and for
Speaker 2: you today is and I think it's really related very
Speaker 2: much to our conversation into what you said. Do you
Speaker 2: feel people today with especially with the internet, the way
Speaker 2: we exchange both good and bad. Are we more or
Speaker 2: less tolerant? You've been doing this for a while, what's
Speaker 2: your feeling. Are we getting better at it or are
Speaker 2: we getting worse?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great question, Frank. Wow. You know, here's
Speaker 4: what I do know. I think I think people are learning,
Speaker 4: but I also think people are talking past each other.
Speaker 4: And that's probably one of the biggest challenges we have
Speaker 4: as a society. And and while we're learning, like we're
Speaker 4: you know, Bridges is out there at every school district,
Speaker 4: every school district, and we're sharing the different types of
Speaker 4: disabilities that exist and why it's so important not to
Speaker 4: discriminate and and not to bully your your neighbor or
Speaker 4: your friend because of a disability. It's a natural part
Speaker 4: of the human existence. We're imperfect human beings. We're bound
Speaker 4: to have disabilities.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: We need to make the world a little more accessible,
Speaker 4: and we need to make sure that we treat our
Speaker 4: brothers with and sisters with respect and with dignity. So
Speaker 4: there's there's a lot more of that happening, and I
Speaker 4: think it's it's happening for the better, which is great,
Speaker 4: but I think we still do have a challenge where
Speaker 4: instead of talking with and for one another, we're talking
Speaker 4: past each other and that doesn't help unfortunately. And so
Speaker 4: so we have, you know, another one. On hand, we're
Speaker 4: learning and and education is getting out there. And on
Speaker 4: the other hand, there's a communication problem I think in
Speaker 4: our society and that that has to get better.
Speaker 2: So we needed some intelligent conversation. I get a little
Speaker 2: I get a little plug in there, Carlson. Seriously, that's
Speaker 2: always been our mission here is let's talk about it.
Speaker 2: All points of view are welcome if you can talk
Speaker 2: about it, and I think you know it's it's worth
Speaker 2: stating and not just as a promotional thing. Carls. We're
Speaker 2: going to take a break when we come back more
Speaker 2: to talk about and you mentioned funding federal cuts, how
Speaker 2: you're dealing with that. I know you've got a lot
Speaker 2: of projects going on. We got to talk about that
Speaker 2: and how people can contact you, use your services, help
Speaker 2: your services. A lot more to go, so I know
Speaker 2: I have you there. You can't go anywhere remind our
Speaker 2: audience not to go anywhere. This has been an absolutely
Speaker 2: terrific informative show. My very special guest is Carlos Martinez.
Speaker 2: He's the CEO and executive director of Bridges formerly still
Speaker 2: the Brockland Independent Living Center. This is Being Frank. I'm
Speaker 2: your host, Franklbono, back with more right after these brief
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Being Frank, the Intelligent conversation podcast. Thanks
Speaker 2: for sticking with us. I'm your hosts Frank Ubono and
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Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone to being Frank. I'm your host, Frank Lebono.
Speaker 2: Our very special guest is Carlos Martinez. He's the chief
Speaker 2: executive officer and executive director of the Rockland Independent Living Center,
Speaker 2: which is also known aka as Bridges. We're having a
Speaker 2: wonderful conversation. We found out we have so much in common,
Speaker 2: and we're going to continue conversation, including our Fordham University connection.
Speaker 2: That's the story for another day. Carlos, you mentioned a
Speaker 2: little bit. I mean you have a place to run
Speaker 2: and that requires funding money. Where do you get your funding?
Speaker 2: How are you funded? And with that in mind, we
Speaker 2: know what's happening cuts in federal spending just about everywhere.
Speaker 2: So if you're relying on that, how are you going
Speaker 2: to make up for that difference? But first, how are
Speaker 2: you funded and how are you going to go forward?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Absolutely, you know, part of our financial struggle already
Speaker 4: came unfortunately this past year. Our largest funding funded program
Speaker 4: is through our state Medicaid program, which allows people with
Speaker 4: disabilities to live at home and hire their own family
Speaker 4: member or friend to take care of them. It's called
Speaker 4: CDPAP or Consumer Director Personal Assistance. We've been doing that
Speaker 4: as a nonprofit for over twenty six seven years, and
Speaker 4: this past year, unfortunately, our governor changed it and removed
Speaker 4: the program from over three hundred providers and gave it
Speaker 4: to one statewide entity to run it. It was a
Speaker 4: very frustrating process. We were involved in a lot of
Speaker 4: advocacy in lawsuits because we felt that it was the
Speaker 4: wrong The intention was to save the state money and
Speaker 4: and even to this day, since the one organization has
Speaker 4: taken over, we haven't seen the fruits of that. We
Speaker 4: haven't seen the savings, and so we are, you know,
Speaker 4: we're we're in the process of adjusting to that because
Speaker 4: that was unfortunately seventy five percent of our budget. Wow,
Speaker 4: and we lost that entire thing.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: And as difficult as that was, we had to make
Speaker 4: pivots and some changes and restructure a little bit. And
Speaker 4: we're still in the industry. We're still providing services under
Speaker 4: under contract with the entity that took over. But we
Speaker 4: are hoping that we see things change for the better
Speaker 4: and not for the worse as has been witnessed to
Speaker 4: this day with the changeover.
Speaker 2: What are some of the things that you can do, Carlos,
Speaker 2: What might I mean, that's seventy five percent have your funding.
Speaker 2: That's an extraordinary amount of money to try to make up.
Speaker 4: How can you do that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean we took a strategic step a couple
Speaker 4: of years to go to add another area of service
Speaker 4: that's very similar to that one. So from a business perspective,
Speaker 4: what we decided to do was add similar program funded
Speaker 4: by a different industry altogether. And so from CDPAP we
Speaker 4: added a program called VDC Veteran Directed Care, and that
Speaker 4: program does the same thing where it allows veterans to
Speaker 4: hire a family member or friend and someone they trust
Speaker 4: and they get paid through this program that is funded
Speaker 4: by the VA. And so it's a little bit different
Speaker 4: where through CDPATH we were funded by state dollars, where
Speaker 4: with the VDC program, we're now funded by VA dollars.
Speaker 4: Now that could always come into play at the federal
Speaker 4: level in next year's budget and we'll see what happens,
Speaker 4: but at this time, making adding that program has helped
Speaker 4: offset a little bit of these changes to allow us
Speaker 4: to repurpose, allow staff to you know, uh, to work
Speaker 4: for the VDC program so that don't they don't lose
Speaker 4: their jobs and repurpose some administrative structure so that we
Speaker 4: have support for that program as well. And that program
Speaker 4: has grown substantially within the last two years that we've
Speaker 4: had it. But even with that, we've lost I mean
Speaker 4: we you know, in the in the department that we
Speaker 4: have for the CDPAT program, we lost about seven staff
Speaker 4: altogether over the course of the last year.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: And you know, and and while we did lose that,
Speaker 4: we also gained you know, because we had we gained
Speaker 4: new grants with creating new contracts, you know, at county
Speaker 4: and state levels to provide services uh the way that
Speaker 4: we do in different ways for the community. But you know,
Speaker 4: to answer your question even further, we're not just funded
Speaker 4: by Medicaid dollars. We're also funded by state grant dollars,
Speaker 4: by county dollars, grant dollars that support all the different
Speaker 4: areas and facets of our organization. Whether we're serving people
Speaker 4: involved in the justice system and coming out of incarceration
Speaker 4: re entering the community, or we're serving people who are
Speaker 4: blind or visually impaired, or we're serving our veterans these
Speaker 4: are all grant dollars that come from the state and
Speaker 4: some county dollars to help support the work that we
Speaker 4: do in the community. And so at the federal level,
Speaker 4: we don't know exactly based on what we've seen, how
Speaker 4: that's going to impact us. We're sort of waiting and seeing.
Speaker 4: We're sort of in that period of time. But you know,
Speaker 4: as as an as a nonprofit, we're businesses and we
Speaker 4: you know, we take that approach of making sure that
Speaker 4: we can protect the business and make sure that we
Speaker 4: can protect our organization long term. And we're doing that
Speaker 4: by making decisions that helped respond help I guess what
Speaker 4: I mean is help put us in a position so
Speaker 4: that we're not responding, but we're proactive in dealing with
Speaker 4: these potential situations that can put any nonprofit at risk
Speaker 4: of closing your doors.
Speaker 2: Now, you mentioned your community involvement. What about the community's
Speaker 2: involvement with you? How do people get involved with bridges
Speaker 2: or do you accept donations? In other words, how do
Speaker 2: people become in.
Speaker 4: Froned with absolutely? I mean that's you know, there's never
Speaker 4: been a more pivotal time to help nonprofits and the
Speaker 4: work that we do. I mean there's a there's a
Speaker 4: really absorbit in number out there that if nonprofits didn't
Speaker 4: do the work that they did, the costs that the
Speaker 4: government would have to dish out to do it would
Speaker 4: be astronomically higher.
Speaker 2: I know Diane's sarritory of people people for your regular guests,
Speaker 2: she she regularly harps on that why are we always
Speaker 2: doing the government's job without us? But police continue to mean.
Speaker 4: That's exactly right. I mean, there's there's the perspective here
Speaker 4: that has to be viewed by the community that if
Speaker 4: the nonprofit organization, these businesses didn't do the job that
Speaker 4: we were doing, it would cost the government twice, if
Speaker 4: not three times as much to do it.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: And so there's value in having us. We also provide jobs,
Speaker 4: you know, we also provide career opportunities, and so you know,
Speaker 4: your support there's you know, the community support is really
Speaker 4: optimal and really uh, you know, amazing, and the way
Speaker 4: that people are involved with the organization. They we have
Speaker 4: corporate donors that donate on an annual an annual basis,
Speaker 4: we have individuals that donate to specific programs to help
Speaker 4: us with our shortfalls, and we have individuals that are
Speaker 4: involved even from the point of volunteering. We have a
Speaker 4: program called the Chore Program where if you're a handy person,
Speaker 4: we will send you to a person. So I'm a
Speaker 4: senior or a personal disability who needs help perhaps putting
Speaker 4: a light bulb or taking out the air conditioner for
Speaker 4: the winter season, or any small handyman work that could
Speaker 4: be done reasonably. We have volunteers that go out and
Speaker 4: do that and they are phenomenal in helping folks stay
Speaker 4: safe in their home.
Speaker 2: Tell us you know, I understand you have a number
Speaker 2: of current projects that Bridges is involved with. Tell us
Speaker 2: about them in some detail. Please.
Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely, Yeah, we have an extraordinary project that I'm
Speaker 4: excited to talk about.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: One of the issues, there's two main issues with housing
Speaker 4: in general. Right everybody knows affordability is an issue with house.
Speaker 4: The other issue that people don't talk about as often
Speaker 4: is the fact that housing there isn't enough accessible housing.
Speaker 4: When you think about the only accessible housing that exists
Speaker 4: are for seniors and senior housing or low income housing
Speaker 4: in summers in some ways and not always or have
Speaker 4: accessible units. But at the end of the day, we're
Speaker 4: really doing a disservice to our community. When we don't
Speaker 4: really talk about that at the same time as we
Speaker 4: are with affordability issues. And it doesn't mean that everything
Speaker 4: that's accessible has to be affordable, although everything affordable should
Speaker 4: be accessible. But the idea is that, and I like
Speaker 4: to share it this way, right, I have a board
Speaker 4: member who is a wheelchair user, and he said to me, Carlos,
Speaker 4: I'm not poor. I just can't find housing that's accessible,
Speaker 4: you know. And so for him, he have to buy
Speaker 4: home and then retrofit it or add on to it
Speaker 4: and completely spend money that he doesn't want to spend
Speaker 4: to get a home built so that it meets his needs.
Speaker 4: And so what we're doing right now in New City,
Speaker 4: we bought a house and we are we brought it
Speaker 4: down to its foundation and we're going to rebuild it
Speaker 4: with universal design principles. What universal design principles speak of
Speaker 4: and have to do is is to design spaces to
Speaker 4: ensure that the largest body of people can access it.
Speaker 4: So let me give you an example. Right accessibility only
Speaker 4: goes so far. The ADEA, the Americans of Disabilities Act,
Speaker 4: is the law that enacted that every public place should
Speaker 4: be accessible to people disabilities. Right, you should have ramps.
Speaker 4: You should have doorways that are accessible, right. It doesn't
Speaker 4: go into the residential realm.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: So universal design number one is taking away the stigma
Speaker 4: that is related to accessibility and disability, because too many
Speaker 4: people think disability or accessibility, and they're asking us, are
Speaker 4: you building a group home? Are you building a nursing home?
Speaker 4: And we're going no, that's not the point of universal design.
Speaker 4: I said, think simpler. Think a parent with their stroller, right,
Speaker 4: how much more convenient would it be for them to
Speaker 4: be able to get in their front door without having
Speaker 4: to go up any steps, to allow their stroller to
Speaker 4: access easily, right, or maybe even their one or two
Speaker 4: year old that's walking now that they don't have to
Speaker 4: worry about a step and the potential of getting injured. Right.
Speaker 4: Think about a grandparent that's coming to visit you that
Speaker 4: can't go up flight of steps. A universally designed home
Speaker 4: takes into account all these different scenarios, not just a
Speaker 4: wheelchair user, not just a person who's blind or visually impaired,
Speaker 4: or death or heart of hearing, or someone with down syndrome,
Speaker 4: or someone who's autistic. Right, we're talking about the entirety
Speaker 4: of our community and the idea that a thirty four
Speaker 4: inch doorway is good for anyone, and that a ramp
Speaker 4: or no step entry is good for anyone, or levers
Speaker 4: instead of doorknobs is good for anyone. Right, it's if
Speaker 4: you think about it this way, we think about uh,
Speaker 4: there'sn't There's a really cool image online and if you
Speaker 4: if you, if you're hearing it, and you can google it.
Speaker 4: There's an you can google image of of of janitor
Speaker 4: shoveling the snow in front of the school, and you'll
Speaker 4: find an image that clearly shows that this person is
Speaker 4: shoveling the steps first and not the ramp. And a
Speaker 4: student in a wheelchair goes to the janitor and said, well,
Speaker 4: why didn't you shovel the ramp first, And the janitor
Speaker 4: just says, I'm I'm just trying to get the snow
Speaker 4: off the steps so that these students could get in.
Speaker 4: And then she responds saying, but if you shovel the ramp,
Speaker 4: we can all get in. That's that's universal design. It doesn't.
Speaker 4: It's not about treating someone more special. It's about making
Speaker 4: sure that everybody has access at the same time. So simple,
Speaker 4: it's so simple, and that's what universal design is and
Speaker 4: what we're doing with this house, and we're going to
Speaker 4: showcase this so we can the community has a chance
Speaker 4: to come in and see it, because there'll be things
Speaker 4: that are so simple in practice that you wouldn't have
Speaker 4: known as part of the universal design concept, because people
Speaker 4: have a tendency to go too far into a normalized
Speaker 4: way of thinking where everything has to look a certain way,
Speaker 4: like it has to look like a nursing home, or
Speaker 4: it has to be a group on me if you're
Speaker 4: building it with accessibility. Now, we want more inventory of
Speaker 4: homes to be available that have universal design principles build
Speaker 4: in place, so that if you or I wanted to
Speaker 4: buy the house, Frank, we could. It doesn't mean we
Speaker 4: have to be disabled to buy it. It just means
Speaker 4: that if one day we have a party and we
Speaker 4: have a friend, that friend who uses a wheelchair or
Speaker 4: a friend who uses crutches, maybe temporarily disabled, they would
Speaker 4: be able to access the home just as well as
Speaker 4: we do. And that's the whole idea, and maybe we
Speaker 4: acquire this ability later in age. The home is built
Speaker 4: for us. It's truly a forever home, as they like
Speaker 4: to call it, right and that's the idea is to
Speaker 4: showcase what this means so that we can advocate for
Speaker 4: more homes to be built with these principles at the
Speaker 4: very least the first level of each home, so that
Speaker 4: people can live there with dignity and not have to
Speaker 4: build out or move out in order to find something
Speaker 4: that meets their needs.
Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of funny, not funny, but getting
Speaker 2: of the age. And my partner Amanda is starting to
Speaker 2: suggest that maybe we'll start looking for a single floor place.
Speaker 2: So again, you know, it's it's you know, say, it's
Speaker 2: kind of tongue and cheek, but there's a certain level
Speaker 2: of seriousness to that. Absolutely, at a certain point as
Speaker 2: you age, do you want to be dealing with a
Speaker 2: bunch of stares so that you know it's a simple
Speaker 2: thing and it doesn't necessarily instead of separating us from
Speaker 2: those who are so called disabled, it's something we really
Speaker 2: kind of share exactly. Yes, closed, what does you see
Speaker 2: as the future for places like bridges and for people
Speaker 2: who to use your services?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we you know, well, I guess our
Speaker 4: vision for the future is that we have a more
Speaker 4: barrier free society, you know, and that's that's really what
Speaker 4: our vision is actually, you know, and the and and
Speaker 4: we hope that through the work that we're doing more
Speaker 4: and more that Rockland. You know, if there's any place
Speaker 4: that could be the leader in universal design and accessibility
Speaker 4: and equity for people with disabilities, it's Rocke And I
Speaker 4: mean it's in the name, It's rock Land. You know,
Speaker 4: it's one of the most hilliest, rockiest places here in
Speaker 4: the Hudson Valley region. And the more that we could
Speaker 4: show the rest of the state and even the country
Speaker 4: that regardless of landscape, we can be more universally designed. Uh,
Speaker 4: that would be the dream. I mean, that would be
Speaker 4: the goal ultimately.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 4: And so and I know that we can do it.
Speaker 4: We can and hopefully this house can be an example
Speaker 4: of the future. And and and maybe even incentivizing legislation
Speaker 4: for builders that they can be incentivized if they build
Speaker 4: with universal design principles. That's what we want to have happened,
Speaker 4: so that there's more availability of places that meets the
Speaker 4: needs of anybody who wants to live in it. And uh,
Speaker 4: and yeah, I mean for for bridges, I mean, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, I see as growing we have ideas to
Speaker 4: expand as an organization to help smaller nonprofits. You know,
Speaker 4: I think the day and age is coming where nonprofits
Speaker 4: really have to work together and collaborate.
Speaker 2: Great great point offing made and mentioned Diane Servitor from
Speaker 2: People with People. Oh yeah, that if you created synergy,
Speaker 2: that's a great point to be made.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, there's a reason why I love Diane. You know,
Speaker 4: we think we do very well. No, we all, she
Speaker 4: really is awesome and uh, you know so I absolutely
Speaker 4: agree with that. You you know, we we have a
Speaker 4: responsibility to thrive as organizations. We don't have to try
Speaker 4: and survive all the time. If we have partnerships and
Speaker 4: collaborations that work, you know, we can we can work
Speaker 4: together and do it right so that we're not constantly
Speaker 4: trying to chase after uh, and that we're thriving instead
Speaker 4: and doing the work that we've been wanting to do
Speaker 4: for the community. And we do it there. You know,
Speaker 4: there's different ways to do it. Our way of doing
Speaker 4: it is through sort of a management management a service
Speaker 4: management organization model which allows smaller nonprofits to collaborate work
Speaker 4: with us under a management agreement where we can provide
Speaker 4: the administrative supports, payroll, HR and all that and allow
Speaker 4: folks to do what they're experts in and so they
Speaker 4: don't have to worry about the rest. And so that's
Speaker 4: the type of thing we're building and right now and
Speaker 4: and I'm looking forward to that for the future.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's talk about how people can contact Bridges. You websites,
Speaker 2: phone numbers, whatever you choose to give. How can people
Speaker 2: get in touch with you and.
Speaker 4: Bridges Absolutely, I mean, first and foremost, check out our website.
Speaker 4: It has it's it's uh got great level of information
Speaker 4: and detail on our programs. You know, We're fortunate in
Speaker 4: the way that people donate to us, you know, because
Speaker 4: they meet our organization, they see what we do, and
Speaker 4: they always have a favorite, you know, Like we have
Speaker 4: donors that love to give towards our vision services. We
Speaker 4: have donors that love to give towards our veteran services,
Speaker 4: you know, and and so that's the beauty of who
Speaker 4: we are. There's an area that that hits home for you,
Speaker 4: you know, check out our website and you can give
Speaker 4: towards that programming, you know, so that it can help
Speaker 4: us with any areas of shortfalls or any areas of
Speaker 4: support that we need. But you know, our website is
Speaker 4: www dot bridges RC dot org. You can visit us
Speaker 4: there or you call out. You know, I'm always here
Speaker 4: in the office. You can talk with me. You can
Speaker 4: talk to some of our team members our numbers eight
Speaker 4: four five six two four one three six six and
Speaker 4: uh yeah, I'd love to talk to anybody who wants
Speaker 4: to get to know more about us, understand what we
Speaker 4: do and how they can support well.
Speaker 2: Carlos Martinez, CEO and executive director of Bridges, we want
Speaker 2: to thank you for being frank with us in your
Speaker 2: tallent conversation today and for talking with us today. It
Speaker 2: was really great. I really learned a lot. I really did.
Speaker 4: Thank Yeah.
Speaker 2: Some of the things so simple and yet so sublime
Speaker 2: and singing effective. We do our best to make them happen.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Sometimes we overthink things as humans, and we have
Speaker 4: to remember that. You know, with the right support of
Speaker 4: the right guidance, things can be a lot simpler than
Speaker 4: we imagine than to be great terrific. You know.
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Speaker 2: you know. Always leave you with the last two little things.
Speaker 2: Some original music and we'll have that in just a moment.
Speaker 2: But before that, a little slogan, something to kind of
Speaker 2: fit with our conversation today. And who better to go
Speaker 2: to than Nelson Mandela when he said for to be
Speaker 2: free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but
Speaker 2: to live in a way that respects and enhances the
Speaker 2: freedom of others. Okay, so there it is, all right.
Speaker 2: Some original music from my friend Ria Vogel and her band.
Speaker 2: They're terrific. They're called the Scoop and it's a song
Speaker 2: about overcoming obstacles. It's called Another Sunrise. Hey for our engineer,
Speaker 2: he's the mail man, mister Neil Richter. I'm your host,
Speaker 2: Frank Lobono, and we hope to have you join us
Speaker 2: on the next being Frank, We're the only way to
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